1. Field
This invention relates to an individual watercraft. More specifically, the invention is directed to inflatable pontoon watercraft, and provides several enhancements for such boats.
2. State of the Art
Typically, boats or watercrafts designed for individuals are powered by the action of swim fins on the user""s feet or of oars supported on the framework of the watercraft. Small motors may also be used on these boats. Such boats are popularly used as fishing platforms, but they are also used more generally for water transport, such as in connection with hunting, touring or white water rafting.
These watercraft generally comprise two inflatable cylindrical pontoons harnessed together by means of a rigid mainframe. The mainframe functions as the support for seating or decking, and also serves as the attachment point for any optional equipment; such as foot rests, frame extensions, motors, oars, rod holders, beverage holders, fish finders, stripping aprons, cargo containers, anchors, etc.
Mainframes have typically been constructed of aluminum. In general practice, assembly of the mainframe to the pontoons requires that the mainframe rest directly on the pontoon surfaces. Significant problems have been associated with such direct-contact between the mainframe and pontoons. Friction between the surfaces of a pontoon and a frame during use of the boat causes black oxide to rub off of the mainframe and stain the pontoons and anything else coming in contact with the oxide. Aluminum mainframes also are easily scratched and dented during use, transportation and storage. Pontoon surfaces are subject to puncture and abrasion because of the conventional materials of construction of the pontoons, typically PVC, rubber, rubberized fabric or similar polymeric materials. Raised or rough areas on the mainframe cause cuts and abraded areas in the pontoon surfaces. To avoid staining, puncture and abrasion problems, boat owners require considerable time in maintaining the boat. The aluminum frame must be kept painted to avoid any direct surface contact between the mainframe and the pontoons; and any dents or nicks must be smoothed out before the mainframe can be attached to the pontoons.
Historically, these boats have been designed with wrap around mainframes supported on a pair of inflatable pontoons. The mainframe harnesses the pontoons in spaced parallel arrangement. The major portion of the frame is thus suspended between the pontoons as a support structure having side members, front and rear cross members and a central platform. Any additional boat components and accessories are attached to this support structure. Misalignment of the pontoons and mainframe create undesired operational problems in controlling the boat.
The bending moments generated in conventional mainframes have been observed to have a negative impact on the durability of the frame. The largest bending moments generated in the mainframe occur where the side members are joined to the central platform. Breakage often occurs in this area, especially under conditions causing the pontoons to bounce or the load to fluctuate (in rough water, for example). Overstress failures have also been observed to occur in the regions where foot rest and cargo bay accessories are attached to a frame.
Accessories are typically attached to side members of a mainframe, to be convenient to a boater""s hand during boating. Unfortunately, any strap used to attach an accessory to a side member of the mainframe is inherently pushed into the pontoon surfaces when a mainframe is mounted on the pontoons. Other fastener systems and accessory surfaces moving against the pontoons also cause problems associated with wear. Vibration due to wind or rough water, or the transport of an assembled boat, causes abrasion of the pontoon surfaces under these pressure points.
Another commonly used method used to attach accessories to the mainframe side members is to fasten or integrally form a clevis at one end of the accessory. The clevis slips over a side member and is fixed in place. Oar locks, fishing rod holders, and beverage holders are examples of accessories that may be attached to a mainframe in this manner. Conventionally, clevis and side members have been made of aluminum. Galling between the clevis and side member surfaces has been found to present a significant problem after short usage times.
Wrap around mainframes are intended to provide stability along the full length of each pontoon and maintain the pontoon pair in parallel position even in relatively rough water conditions. Unfortunately, some conventional wrap around design obstructs a user""s entry and exit from the vessel. This problem increases with increasing water depth. Historically, the front cross member of a mainframe has acted as a footrest. A footrest provides many practical advantages; for example, for generally relaxing, for resting and stretching finning muscles, or for supporting a user""s feet in an elevated position to clear bottom hazards. It also may serve as a foot brace for more efficient rowing action.
A framing system which eliminates front cross members offers convenient walk-in access to the vessel""s seating area, but with the accompanying loss of the footrest. xe2x80x9cLxe2x80x9d-shaped foot rest extensions have thus been attached to the side members of certain mainframes lacking a front cross member. Neither the conventional front cross member nor the newer foot rest extension is continuously adjustable to comfortably accommodate various leg lengths.
It is recognized that it would be beneficial to provide adequate leg support above the surface of a kick boat""s foot rest. Such leg support would be expected to alleviate leg strain when the feet are elevated. Hypothetically, a cross member could provide additional leg support with the use of a foot rest attachment suspended from and located forward of the member, but only if the user""s legs, through serendipity, happened to be of the correct length to take advantage of such a feature.
Many pontoon boat accessories are available to enhance user comfort and convenience. Historically, it has been difficult to attach accessories to the mainframe in a manner avoiding entanglement of the boater or abrasion of the pontoons, and to avoid clutter, while allowing the accessory to be easily accessed when wanted. Historically, accessories are provided to serve a single function. It would be of benefit to provide adaptable accessories that can meet a variety of needs, to eliminate clutter.
Conventional boat models are provided with the aim of meeting the needs of boaters primarily interested in one particular type of application. Boats configured for lake fishing are not necessarily convenient for river fishing or river running for example. A versatile boat that can be configured to meet a variety of needs would be highly advantageous.
Storage of inflatable pontoon boats has been inconvenient for those, such as apartment dwellers, having limited storage space. These boats have generally been bulky, even when disassembled for storage or transport. Duffle bags and bags with attached back pack straps have been used to increase boat portability.
Swept pontoons are being offered to replace the previously favored cylindrical pontoons in some applications. When viewed in a longitudinal cross section, cylindrical pontoons have parallel walls over the water contact area, that rest flat on the water. Swept pontoons may include a cylindrical midsection, but are otherwise characterized by converging walls that curve up away from the plane of the water surface. Fully swept pontoons have no cylindrical sections and are offered with varying radii of curvature.
Swept pontoons greatly decrease the water resistance of the boats and allow for greater maneuverability and easy propulsion action. However, boats utilizing swept pontoons are less stable in the water and so are less forgiving of longitudinal load imbalances. Therefore, there is an increased need for adjustability in situating the mainframe longitudinally along the pontoons, to balance the load carried by the pontoons. Further, there is an increase necessity in maintaining the frame attached to the pontoons at a precise and repetitive location for each assembly of the craft.
Various attempts have been made to accommodate the needs and desires of boaters to provide individual watercrafts for various types of activities, such as fishing, sightseeing or exploring rivers and streams, separately or together. Often, families will have two or more individual watercrafts to satisfy the desires of the family members. On occasions, only one person may want to go boating and/or fishing and at other times two members may want to go boating together and perhaps take turns rowing and fishing. Such occasions would require either an individual boat or a two-person boat. Likewise, family friends and neighbors may have the same interest as families in boating separately or together. This presents a dilemma with families and friends as to whether they should acquire single-person boats or two-person boats. Further, on such occasions, families and friends on reaching the recreational area for boating and fishing, may then decide to fish or explore, separately or together, again providing a dilemma as to whether they should have a two-person boat or a one-person boat.
The joining of two individual watercrafts to act as one is a desirable arrangement. However, prior attempts have suggested that one pontoon boat can be arranged to have parallel seating arrangements to accommodate one or two boaters. Others have suggested longitudinal linking of modular sections between fore and aft sections to accommodate several individuals. Such arrangements do not permit individuals to separate the watercraft into two separate boats because the modular sections require a bow and stern section to be a usable craft.
The ideal situation would be the ability to join two individual watercrafts as one for use by two individuals or maintain the watercrafts separate with each individual using one boat. The joining of two separate boats to provide a two-person boat also allows one person to maneuver the craft while the other concentrates on fishing or other activities without concern of navigating streams or rivers.
There remains a need for a versatile boat with adjustable and secure foot, leg and seat support structures, improved storage, and reduced maintenance requirements. There further remains a need for a boat assembly capable of more efficient storage and transport, and for a safe, durable, and collapsible design that provides rigid stability when reassembled. There is also a need for improved load balancing capabilities for swept pontoon boats. Elimination of the need for tools and loose hardware for assembly and disassembly would eliminate a major source of inconvenience, and would help reduce weight, thereby enhancing portability. Improved accessory storage and an adjustable and safe stripping apron are also needed.
Further, there remains a need for joining two versatile boats by simple means whereby the bow of one boat is coupled to the stern of another boat in such a manner as to form a two-person craft from two individual crafts that retain all the amenities and accessories of a single craft, which allow for joining the crafts as one in the field for various periods of time with the ability to disjoin the craft to accommodate navigation of smaller waterway or tributaries of a larger body of water where the craft coupled in tandem are readily maneuverable.
The present invention is an improved pontoon watercraft which includes inflatable pontoons and a yoke assembly for spacing the pontoons in a parallel orientation with a central support for mounting a seat, cargo rack, motor support and anchor mounting and a pair of foot rests. The yoke assembly may be assembled and disassembled without any special tools. The yoke assembly has gunwales for supporting oar locks and oars. The high-rise pontoons provide appropriate contact with the water.
The present invention provides a personal pontoon watercraft that may be assembled and disassembled with no special tools and minimum of equipment for inflating the pontoons. When disassembled the watercraft may be stored in a relatively small canvass or other suitable bag having a length of four (4) feet and a girth of six to seven (6-7) feet. The watercraft comprises two inflatable pontoons which may be twin bladder pontoons to provide extra puncture protection; a yoke frame having two yoke members contoured to and encircle the top surface of the pontoons, which are spaced-apart by a central support; each yoke member is retained secured to the central support by struts projecting from the yoke member with snap button locks that seat in apertures in cross bars of the central support; the yoke frame accommodates an integrated load leveling system, as well as, oar locks, oars, trolling motor and anchor mount.
Further, the present invention provides a personal pontoon watercraft which includes twin bladders in each pontoon for inflating the pontoons and minimize catastrophic puncture of both pontoons. The pontoons are held by a yoke frame in which the yoke members encircle the top side of the pontoons and are contoured thereto. This maintains the pontoons upright when properly secured. The yoke frame includes D-ring tie downs for securing the pontoon straps which encircle and are secured to the under side of the pontoons, and in conjunction with the D-ring tie downs maintain the pontoons parallel and symmetrical with respect to each other in order to maintain balance and stability of the personal pontoon watercraft.
In order to accomplish this symmetry, the straps, generally of nylon webbing, are sewn or otherwise affixed to each of the pontoons precisely the same. First, a long strap, which is sufficient to encircle the underside of the pontoon and extend through the D-ring tie downs, back down and thread through a buckle, is sewn or otherwise secured along the underside of each pontoon oriented in a circular plane through the pontoon such that the longitudinal axis of the pontoon is perpendicular to the circular plane. Next, with the same orientation as the long strap, a shorter strap with a buckle attached to each end, is sewn or otherwise affixed over the long strap along the under side. Additionally, a strip of same material as the pontoons is over sewn or secured covering the web straps along the underside to protect them from underwater and shore line damage. Each pontoon has two sets of these straps appropriately spaced for attachment to the D-ring tie downs on the yoke frame. The positioning of the straps with the longitudinal axis of the pontoons perpendicular to the circular plane of the straps assures that with repeated assembly and disassembly of the pontoon watercraft, the pontoons will always be properly aligned when attached to the yoke frame. The yoke frame with the D-ring tie downs will always maintain the pontoons of the watercraft symmetrical and parallel.
Further, the present invention provides the personal pontoon watercraft with an integrated load leveling system whereby the individual can adjust leg rests to multiple positions, adjust the seat forward or backward in several positions, provide gunwales with oar locks that may be adjusted to several forward or rearward positions, and adjust the motor and anchor mount to several forward or rearward positions, for the purpose of individual comfort and maintaining the watercraft level in the water such that the center of gravity will prevent the watercraft from constantly turning around to seek the direction of water flow with the end sitting deeper in the water, turning down stream. Likewise, the center of gravity may be adjusted to maintain the bow deeper in the water to follow the stream flow.
The two piece oars are designed to snap together with two snap button locks oriented with the buttons in separate circular planes and angularly displaced from each other by ninety (90xc2x0) degrees which prevents inadvertent separation of the two sections by the user or from the oar snagging on an underwater or narrow watercourse obstruction.
Other features include a reinforced tubular motor and anchor mount at a convenient height above the water line, a slide out mesh fish basket, a wire mesh storage compartment, Velcro fastener retained nylon side storage boxes, and the like.
In another aspect of the invention, the design of the personal pontoon watercraft is modified to provide the removal of the foot rest from the bow of one boat and the removal of the motor and anchor mount from the stern of another boat. In addition, the pontoons of each craft are designed with a zipper, one side encircling the fore end and the other encircling the aft end of the pontoons, in such a fashion that the aft ends of the pontoons of one craft may be slightly deflated along with the for end of the other craft""s pontoons, which can then be mated together forming unitary pontoons between the two boats. In this manner, the pontoons of two separate watercrafts may be joined and a coupling frame can join the frames of the two watercrafts to form a single rigid frame with the rear boat retaining the motor and anchor mount and the forward boat retaining the foot rest. The coupling frame may be several horizontal struts to provide foot rests for the rear craft when joined with the forward craft.
In a further arrangement, the watercraft when paired in tandem will accommodate a standing fishing platform by removing the foot rest from the central support of the yoke assembly of the forward craft and inserting the standing platform with railing in the central support of the yoke assembly where the foot rest was removed. This change requires no special tools as the assembly uses snap-button lock for ease of assembly and disassembly. In addition the swivel seat of the watercraft may readily be removed and a pedestal seat of adjustable height and swivel may be attached by unthreading wing nuts and bolts that hold the seat in place and securing the pedestal seat with wing nuts and bolts.